‘Crazy b*tch!’

Hela struggled while spitting out water that filled her mouth. But the swamp-like water only sucked in Hela, who didn’t know how to swim, deeper. She screamed for help and tried to grab branches, but her heavy body sank helplessly.

She never expected the woman to grab her. She had pushed the Third Prince’s mistress—that pretty but clueless woman—into the water, but the woman had reached out her hand. In an instant, her clothes were grabbed, and when she came to her senses, she was drifting away. Even in her dazed state, Hela anxiously looked around. She only felt relieved after seeing the golden-haired woman, limp and seemingly dead, being pushed away by the strong current.

“Save me!”

Spotting a group of people not far away, Hela screamed for help at the top of her lungs. With murmuring sounds, someone approached to rescue her. Success. Only then did a smile of relief spread across her face. Unfortunately, it seemed the Galate woman’s life ended here. She would drift endlessly and slowly drown. Judging by the speed she was being carried away, they wouldn’t even find her body. Her mistress would surely be delighted, and she would give her a sufficient reward for excellently carrying out her orders.

“Here, help me! Please save me quickly!”

* * *

Antor stared down at the woman flailing like a worm in the current.

“Your Highness, she appears to be from the Karnos household.”

His henchman reported as he lowered the telescope from his eye. The Karnos estate bordered the southern territory of Mount Odepotos. Antor was enjoying a light hunt as usual in that area, which served as a royal hunting ground due to its beautiful scenery and abundance of rare animals. He was on his way to attend the mansion party belatedly.

Antor slowly pulled the reins. He was already well aware of the late attendance and ongoing situation through spies he had planted in advance. For instance, that Selina’s partner was her fiancé and that the partner had brought his mistress. A golden bird-like woman walking with Selina’s maid. That woman whom Achilleon loved… While thinking about such things dryly, he heard a splash, the sound of someone falling into water.

Antor’s dormant interest revived when he recognized Hari’s struggling face. He turned his horse away from the direction of the Karnos mansion and rode along the waterway, intending to catch the drifting woman. The river, hidden by dense forest, repeatedly swallowed and spat out the woman who appeared intermittently.

‘Please save me, help me—’

A smile spread across Antor’s face as he heard the voice suffering, almost breaking. The sound of his heart pounding with interest felt unfamiliar. He spurred his horse, riding faster.

However, the two figures became one, and what came into his grasp was not the golden bird he had expected. Antor stared expressionlessly at Selina’s maid who was coughing and sputtering.

“Th-thank you so much for saving—”

Antor grinned.

“If you’ve done something vile, you should be punished.”

Without listening further to her trembling voice, he released his grip on her collar. With a scream, the bundle he had pulled from the water was plunged back into the deep water.

“Tsk.”

“Your Highness—”

“Return to the mansion.”

Antor, turning his back on his pale-faced henchmen, mounted his horse swiftly, clearly detesting the waste of time. Everyone looked confused by the prince’s action of pulling up the woman with his own hands only to push her back into the water.

“What about that woman…”

“I delivered divine punishment. Personally.”

A wench who deserved to die for daring to lay hands on a beautiful bird.

Antor muttered irritably as he looked around.

Wasn’t it this way? The waterway split into two. The Galate woman must have drifted to the left. He felt extremely annoyed at having wasted time and energy on something useless. When he discovered that the woman he had personally dismounted to rescue was the maid who constantly accompanied that childish noblewoman, anger surged within him.

He searched the opposite waterway with narrowed eyes. It would be too late if he went now. Antor swallowed his regret and pulled the reins.

The emotions that had been pounding momentarily subsided, comparable to being submerged in cold water. With that, Antor’s expression regained its dry, ashen color.

“Your Highness, Miss Karnos has sent an urgent telegram requesting your presence. She says she’s desperately waiting for your arrival.”

The irritation that followed was just a bonus.

* * *

Was she alive or dead? With no strength to resist the water filling her lungs, nor to struggle for breath, this floating state must surely be death. Hari blinked blankly. She was swimming underwater. It was strange that while she had no strength, she could breathe surprisingly comfortably.

Was she already dead and drifting through the underworld? If death was this comfortable, she should have sought out the Plutonion (temple of Pluto, god of death) earlier. Hari closed her eyes, feeling the cold yet soft current enveloping her body. She sensed something strange when she thought she would soon be with her grandmother.

In the pitch-black water, invisible forces pulled Hari in one direction. The mysterious power, mistaken for current, guided Hari to a sloping riverbank. As she felt the damp soil against her cheek, Hari squirmed with her powerless body and took her first breath, filling her lungs.

I’m alive. The profound relief turned into tears that flowed down her cheeks. Splash, splash—as she sensed a heavy presence approaching her, Hari’s consciousness slowly faded.

Achilleon discovered Hari when a fur-covered beast was dragging her to the river mouth. It was not far from the Spring of Zelos. The beast, as large as a warhorse with long fangs, had the form of a wolf.

The moment he spotted ‘it,’ Achilleon drew his bowstring without hesitation. However, the beast’s strange behavior that followed made Achilleon narrow his eyes. It was sniffing the woman’s scent, extending its long snout like a wild boar.

Growl, sniff, sniff—the rough breathing broke the silence of the forest wet with night rain. It pulled at the woman’s clothes with its teeth and prowled around fiercely but didn’t attack. While Achilleon was gauging what this behavior meant, he released the bowstring when the beast, its patience reaching its limit, opened its mouth wide.

Creeeaak—a short death cry rang out. Achilleon kicked away the beast’s carcass and bent down to examine the woman. Her stiff, cold body resembled a dead person’s. He urgently felt her blue-tinged lips, but her breathing was faint.

“……”

It was then that the face of a dying boy appeared over the woman.

‘It’s not Aron’s fault.’

When life ceases, the body gradually moves toward death in stages. When the cells that hold moisture stop functioning forever, water flows from the center of the dead person’s face to the edges. Like vitality draining away. Left behind are only dry skin and bare bones, robbed of life’s water.

It’s natural for things to flow from top to bottom when there’s no holding force, just as it’s natural for people to be born and die. But at that time, these natural things were horrifyingly terrible. That was what Dictys’s death was like. Something natural yet unacceptable.

Staring at Margharita without blinking, he suddenly frowned. Pushing aside his confusion, he first loosened the bindings constricting the woman’s body. Massaging her cold limbs had its limits. Achilleon laid the ice-cold Hari in the Spring of Zelos. The spring, mixed with hot water seeping from deep within the volcanic Mount Odepotos, was sufficient to thaw her frozen body.

By now, the forest was completely shrouded in darkness. As soon as he discovered Margharita in the water, he dismissed the henchman who offered to follow and rode his horse to this place. He thought he could rescue her quickly, but it took much longer than expected. Achilleon examined the stars in the night sky, confirming his bearings and estimating the direction and distance back.

Suddenly, he let out a hollow laugh. Who would have expected a path leading to such a dense forest on a mere nobleman’s estate? It would not be easy to detect if they secretly raised private soldiers or engaged in other suspicious activities.

Seeking shelter from the heavy night rain, Achilleon carried Hari into a cave. It was a shallow burrow that small foxes might use, but it seemed sufficient to escape the brief rain. Achilleon took off his cape and carefully wrapped it around Hari’s body. He discovered something shining when he was wiping her wet hair.

A small stone on Hari’s chest was emitting a faint light. That wasn’t the only strange thing. When he checked on his horse tied outside the cave as it was stamping its feet, he sensed the presence of more than a dozen beasts. He knew Mount Odepotos had many beasts, but it was rare for them to come down near inhabited areas, especially such small beasts.